Barclay brothers suit

In 1996, John Sweeney was sued for criminal defamation in France by the Barclay brothers, owners of the Daily Telegraph, but the claimants lost their case. At the time, Sweeney worked for the rival newspaper The Observer, and had given an interview on BBC Radio Guernsey alleging that they had been involved in corruption[1]. Since the broadcast could also be heard in northern France, the claimants were able to bring their claim in the French courts. Sweeney was ordered to pay €3000 by the appeal court in Rennes, France[2].

Zimbabwe

John Sweeney reported on mass graves in Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe for the BBC in 2002. Mugabe had banned BBC reporters from the country, forcing Sweeney to hide in a car boot in order to travel to a meeting with the Leader of the Opposition[3].

Cot death investigation

John Sweeney spent four years investigating the cases of Sally Clark, Angela Cannings and Donna Anthony, three women who had been falsely imprisoned for killing their children. Sweeney's investigation helped to clear their names, and led to Sir Roy Meadow, the expert witness whose testimony had proved decisive in their convictions, being temporarily struck off the General Medical Council's medical register. Sweeney received the Paul Foot Award in 2005 in recognition of his work.[4]

Sweeney remarked that he lost his temper due to days of harassment by Davis and the Church, and a strong personal reaction to the psychiatry exhibit. He had been visited at his hotel by Davis, despite not having shared the address with the Church, and had been followed on several different occasions.[11] Sweeney labeled the clips "attack videos" and others say they were produced to discredit himself and the documentary.[12]

The BBC in response aired its own full recording of the incident.[13] Panorama's Editor Sandy Smith explained what happened and how the BBC dealt with the incident in a post on the BBC's Editor's Blog.[14] An internal BBC investigation found that Sweeney's conduct at one point in the filming was clearly inappropriate, but also noted that Sweeney had apologized for his outburst and concluded that as a whole, filming of the documentary had been performed in a proper and fair manner.[15][16] Later on that same year in the BBC Panorama year in review Sweeney said “..a new generation is making up its own mind, and for that I make no apology”. Only a month and a half later Project Chanology began.

Sweeney goes into a similar outburst in January 2009 when being interviewed on Radio 4 about the Tom Cruise film Valkyrie — this time as a part of a rehearsed joke, clearly referring to the episode two years previously.[17]

Books

Sweeney, John (1991). The Life and Evil Times of Nicolae Ceausescu. Hutchinson. ISBN 0-091746-72-8.